Spin-off to my other post... Lets do an update!

It's been a while since we've had an update, and there are some new faces on this board, so maybe we can introduce ourselves again.

My name is Kerri. My son Lance is 4 years old. He started EI at 16 months old. He had a full language delay and a cognitive delay. We did home based services until he was 3 years old. I started him in typical preschool with a SEIT last year. This June he is being discharged from his services.

Lance has come a really long way. He had no language at all (receptive or expressive) when we started. It's been amazing to watch his progress.

I also have a DD, Grace. She is 15 months old. I don't know if she is following in her brother's footsteps or if I'm being overly cautious, but I'm getting an EI eval for her this month.

Please add yours!!!

Re: Spin-off to my other post... Lets do an update!

Hi! My name is Lisa. DS is Matthew and he is 3.5. Matthew has a PDD-NOS diagnosis.

We live in NJ and the system is a little different.

We started EI at 12 months for a gross motor delays. He received PT. I had him evaluated at 18 months for speech and other developmental delays. He was not speaking although receptively he seemed fine. He had a lot of fixations at the time. Rather than speech they gave him "Developmental Intervention" (DI) one hour per week. His therapist was wonderful but I really always knew he needed more.

A little before his second birthday I took him to a Ped Neuro who dismissed autism but diagnosed him with GDD (global developmental disorder). A month after his second birthday we got a second opinion. That is when he got his diagnosis and EI finally started to take us a little more seriously.

In the meantime we had started Speech 1 hr per week. However, after the diagnosis they increased his services to 4 hours of DI one on one and then 4 hours of DI in the classroom setting. DS was always in daycare so he received his services there.

They really did wonderful things with him!

At 2.5 he started to develop the jumping/flapping behaviors so we added PT and OT to the mix for 1 hour per week.

He aged out of EI this past summer at which point NJ makes you go through your school district. We had all of the evaluations and they placed him in their integrated preschool for an extended school year half day program. He receives speech,group PT and group OT.

DS's progress has always been an ebb and flow. He has come such a long way. His speech is so much better. However, he still has trouble conversing like a typical 3.5 year old. He tends to repeat himself a lot lately. The jumping/flapping has peaked. I just had his IEP amended to include an individual OT session once per week.

Since we are currently in a rough patch I feel like I"m second guessing myself in not insisting on more. But I don't know what more would be or what they will allow. Yet I feel like that isn't a good enough reason not to address it.

I often wish they had a f/t program. Right now he goes to their preschool program in the morning and daycare in the afternoon. I have my own guilt because I've been working like crazy for months now and not able to focus as much effort as I normally would. Plus I'm due w/ DS #2 in two weeks so I know life is about to get crazier.

I'm fearful that this will have an adverse effect on Matthew's progress.

But I shouldn't be so negative. I do need to say that he is such a wonderful, intelligent little boy who lights up my entire world. I can't be prouder of him that I already am.

I just need to decide how I should approach his case manager on ensuring he is getting everything he needs.

Re: Spin-off to my other post... Lets do an update!

My name is Andrea. DS is AJ and his diagnosis is Classic Autism, he is 3.5 years old.

I noticed he was "off' at 6 months old. being a 1st time mom, i followed the advice from our pediatrician and just pushed the "off" things aside.

at 1 year old, i expressed my concerns even more, and they said he was still young, so again i listened. by 15 months old there was no doubt in my mind AJ was autistic.

we called MKS and they put us in contact with a county service coordinator who set up evaluations for us,

he was officially in EI, he was receiving Speech, OT & Special Ed, all with therapists who work with spectrum children. by 16.5 months old we requested a supplementary psych, and at 18 months old his official diagnosis is classic autism.

AJ spoke at a very young age, but it just stopped. he never looked you in the eye, flapped, spun, toe walked, banged his head, never pointed, and spun every and any wheel that he came into contact with.

he was receiving 10 ABA, 3 speech, 3 OT and 1 PT until he aged out of EI. he also went to school 3x a week at the age of 2 for 2.5 hours a day.

when he turned 3 the school district approved him of a full 5 day a week program with 3x30 of in home speech and 3x60 of family training.

we had a 3 month review with the school and they added 3x60 of seit, 2x60 of family training and his speech remained the same.

he has made such great improvement, his vocabulary is out of this world, he answers when you call him, he is advanced in some things but he is still functioning a year behind of where he should be, but from where he was that is something i never thought would happen.

we have a long road ahead of us, but i know he will do great.

Re: Spin-off to my other post... Lets do an update!

My name is Laura and my DS is Zachary. We're new to this board as DS only received his Autism Diagnosis at the beginning of this month.

DS developed typically until around 15 months or so. He learned words very quickly up until then but by 18 months he had lost all of them. By his 2nd birthday he had a ton of words but we didn't realize that they were all from his favorite TV show. At 2.5 he can recite almost entire episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse but can't put together two words on his own. He also had ZERO receptive language. Never answered his own name and couldn't respond to a simple question.

The process has moved pretty quickly for us. We started Early Intervention, OT and Speech in January. Saw the developmental pediatrician at the beginning of February and got an Autistic Disorder diagnosis and today is our first day of ABA. My goals for him are small - just to make the most of the time we have left before he ages out of the home services and is placed in the public preschool program. I'm thrilled to have found this board. It's wonderful to talk to some other moms of special needs kids because they all 'get it'.